


"Is breá liom i gcónaí duit."

by marykathryn30



Series: Short Something's [5]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: 1940s, Awesome Sarah Rogers, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Sexual Situations, Being Walked In On, Coming Out, Cute, Gay, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Sarah Rogers is good, birds and bees, smut if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 11:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16304003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marykathryn30/pseuds/marykathryn30
Summary: Between the radio and Steve’s noises, neither of them heard the front door open.





	"Is breá liom i gcónaí duit."

“Dinner will be ready in ten,” Sarah said as Steve stomped through the front door, wiping at a bloody nose with charcoal stained fingers. She didn’t comment on the new bruises on his face, the scrapes on his bony knuckles, and he was grateful. “Make sure to wash up before you come back out here.”

They ate their dinner of corned beef hash and stewed cabbage in relative silence, Steve stabbing at his food with more force than necessary and knocking his fork against the plate.

“If you didn’t like the plates, all you had to do was say something. I think they’re ugly, too, but the church was nice enough to give us them.”

Steve snorted but otherwise didn’t comment.

After they both finished, Sarah stood to clear the plates, looking back at her son from the sink and sighing. She couldn’t help coming back to the table and cupping his cheek, gently mapping the purple and yellow green bruise on under his eye. Steve closed his eyes and leaned into her touch; she didn’t miss the way his lower lip quivered just a little.

“Ma,” he croaked, looking down at his busted hands. “Ya know how you told me last winter you wouldn’t trade me for nothing?”

“Of course I do.” She tucked his head into her belly and ran her fingers through his cornsilk hair, scratching just a little against his scalp. “You tried telling me you were a burden and didn’t deserve to live because of how often you get sick. And I cut that horse shit down before you even finished your sentence.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile at that, turning his face into his mother’s yellow dress, the fabric scratching just a little against his cheek. She had been making her own dresses lately, out of the flour bags the woman who ran the Jewish bakery down the street gave them.

“And you told me you’d love me no matter what.”

“Because I will. If I stopped loving you when things got hard, honey, you never would’ve made it home from the hospital, the way you refused to latch on and nurse. You wouldn’t know if something was good for you if it smacked you upside the head.”

“I know,” he said quietly, feeling the hot press of tears against his eyelids but squeezing his eyes shut so they didn’t fall. “I don’t make anything easy and I’m sorry.”

“Hey.” Sarah lifted his face and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. “Where’s all this coming from? Is it cause you got in another fight today? You know it makes me worry but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna love you any less.”

“It’s not about the fight. It- Ma, do you really mean it when you say there’s nothin’ I could do that’d make you love me less?”

“I guess if you keep asking that ridiculous question, I might be a little less than happy with you. Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on?”

Steve swallowed hard.

“The fight I got into today,” he said slowly, curling away from Sarah’s touch just a little. She let him go and pulled over the other dining room chair, sitting across from him so their knees bumped. “I was sketching at the park with Bucky and this group ‘a his friends from the dock showed up. Started calling us queer for going to the park together. Grabbed my sketchbook and called me a fairy cause I’d been drawing Bucky.”

“Steven, honey, you can’t control what people think about you and James.” Sarah rubbed his bony knee. “People these days are so trigger happy and jumpy with the way things are, they’ll do anything to take some steam off. You can’t let that get to you.”

“I didn’t even throw the first punch,” Steve said quietly. “Bucky did.”

He looked down at his hand and continued, his voice so low Sarah had to strain to hear him.

“They started makin’ fun of me cause drawing Buck was gay to them. Started sayin’ all this stuff about me being small and just like a dame and Bucky lost it, Ma. I ain’t ever seen him that worked up before.”

“So your best friend started a fight with some less than wholesome boys because they were harassing you. I don’t understand what this has to do with me not loving you.”

“Bucky didn’t punch them cause he’s my friend” Steve chose that moment to look up at her, blue eyes swimming with tears. “He punched them cause- cause I’m his boyfriend and he doesn’t like when people say queers need to have somebody to act like a dame.”

The last bit flew out of his mouth in a whispered rush and he looked away, sucking in a big gulp of air and swiping his sleeve across his running nose.

“So you like fellas.”

Steve sniffled again and looked down.

“I like both,” he mumbled. “But I- Bucky’s just kinda… It, for me. Don’t want no one else.”

“Okay.” Sarah took a deep breath and rubbed a hand across her tired face. “You and James are in a relationship.”

“I get it if ya’ wanna kick me out,” Steve said, fighting not to cry. He couldn’t even look at her, too scared to see the anger and disappointment he knew was clouding her face. “It’s illegal and gross and all that.”

“Steven Grant Rogers, I am not kicking you out of your own home.” She smoothed a hand across his hair and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. “Does James make you happy?”

He nodded.

“Does he treat you right?”

A blush dusted Steve’s pale cheeks but he nodded.

“Then that’s all that matters to me. You can bring home whoever you like, as long as they’re good to you.”

“You.” Steve gaped at her like a fish. “You’re alright with me being queer?”

“I may have had an inkling,” she said, standing and moving back towards the dishes. “You and James are far too old to still try to share a bed when he stays over.”

This time, Steve’s cheeks flamed and he buried his face in his hands.

“I’m gonna go draw on the fire escape,” he said quickly, still blushing. He stood quickly enough to almost knock his chair over and quickly righted it, looking over at his mother. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, burying his face between her warm shoulder blades.

“Thank you,” he said softly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, honey. And I always will.”

…………..

“And she was just fine with it? Just like that?”

“For the thousandth time, Buck, yes.”

“Jesus.” Bucky shook his head in disbelief and lifted another Lucky Strike to his lips. He pulled his lighter out of his pocket and spun the small metal wheel with his thumb until the flame caught; the first grey puffs of his smoke billowed around them as they walked through Red Hook towards Steve’s place, Bucky fresh from his shift at the docks. He’d managed to find time to shower between getting home and when Steve let himself into the Barnes home, and they were both thankful for that.

“Can’t believe your ma is okay with us being together,” Bucky said, dropping his voice low as they walked into the apartment building.

“Will you stop saying that in public?” Steve dug a skinny elbow into Bucky’s ribs and glared at him. “You’re gonna get us arrested.”

“Ain’t nobody around to hear me except you, punk.”

Steve just rolled his eyes and waved away some of Bucky’s smoke.

“Wish you’d quit those,” he complained, glaring at the white stick dangling between Bucky’s full lips. “They make you taste like an ashtray.”

“So I’ll pop a mint before I kiss ya’. Not like you don’t like watching me have my mouth wrapped around somethin’.” He pinched Steve’s ass as the blonde wrestled with the apartment keys and Steve swatted him.

“You’re a menace,” he hissed. “Now stop that. It ain’t funny.”

“I think it’s plenty funny.”

Steve elbowed him again as they stumbled into the apartment, Bucky stubbing out his smoke on the threshold and kicking it down the apartment building stairs. Sarah had a strict no smoking rule for Steve’s asthma and Bucky’d jump off the Brooklyn bridge before he broke that.

“Your ma working?” he asked, unlacing his boots by the door while Steve sorted through the mail piled on the kitchen table.

“Yeah. She’s in the extended care ward so they’re keeping her late.”

Bucky just hummed, moving through the apartment to pull the cushions off the couch and onto the floor, arranging them in the neat order him and Steve were used to. He turned on the radio and flicked through the fuzzy stations until the Dodger’s game filtered through the speaker while Steve cleaned up and closed the living room and kitchen blinds.

“Come here,” Bucky said, settling down on their makeshift fort and throwing a blanket over Steve’s skinny shoulders. Steve smirked and pressed his socked feet into Bucky’s calves; the brunette hissed and glared at his boyfriend and his ice cold toes.

“Now who’s the menace, punk?”

“Still you.” Steve laid down on the cushions and pulled Bucky down by his shirt collar to be the big spoon.

“This is nice,” he breathed, tilting his head back for a kiss and rocking his ass back just a little into Bucky’s crotch.

“You are evil, Steve Rogers,” Bucky grumbled before sealing their lips together.

Kissing Bucky was always an experience. He’d kissed enough dames on his dates to know what he was doing and he always let Steve get as rough as he wanted, matching him evenly bite for bite, lick for lick. Bucky always gave as good as he got and it made Steve’s head spin.

“Fuck,” the blonde spit out as Bucky kissed down the side of his neck. He licked his kiss-swollen lips and wiggled around so he was on his back, legs wrapped tight around Bucky’s trim waist.

“The mouth on you,” Bucky tsk’ed, unbuttoning Steve’s dress shirt and tossing it over the couch. He rucked Steve’s undershirt up under his armpits, leaning down and biting at one perky pink nipple. Steve hissed and squirmed in his grasp, trying to get away and chase the feeling all the same time. Bucky knew exactly what buttons to push, when to push them and how hard, and it drove him wild.

Bucky sat up a little and bit a series of red marks across Steve’s sternum, watching the pale skin pink up so pretty.

“Deep breaths,” he reminded Steve as rubbed the stubble he’d ‘forgotten’ to shave earlier across Steve’s chest. He let the fingers of one hand toy with Steve’s nipple while he bit at the other. “Don’t need you having another attack on me.”

“Wouldn’t be having an Asthma attack if you were such a fucking tease,” Steve ground out through his teeth, moaning a little when Bucky popped the button on his pants.

“How rude. And here I was, thinking I was gonna suck your pretty cock ‘till you came down my throat.” Bucky shook his head mournfully and moved to button Steve’s pants back up. “Such a shame.”

“Wait, no, I’m sorry.” Steve’s skinny fingers wrapped around his wrist. “I’m sorry. I’ll be good.”

“You promise?”

He nodded jerkily and Bucky yanked his pants down harder than necessary. He mouthed at the shape of Steve’s half hard cock through his boxers, making sure to keep eye contact as he lapped at the head through the cotton. It always took Steve awhile to get going and took even longer for him to finish, with his heart being as weak as it is. There were nights his body couldn’t finish, no matter how hard they tried. Those were the worst, usually ending with Steve curled in on and angry at himself, cursing the world for his health problems and only getting more upset when Bucky tried to tell him it was okay.

“Jesus Christ, Buck,” Steve panted, throwing an arm over his eyes and knocking his head back into the cushions. “Feels so good.”

“And I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet.” He bit gently at Steve’s jutting hip, the sharp knob of bone he loved nibbling on whenever they were like this. Steve’s twitched and laughed out a moan, swiping a hand at him blindly.

“Tickles,” he whined grumpily. Bucky just grinned up at him and slid his tongue down the sharp line where Steve’s thigh met his groin, just to make his boyfriend moan again.

Between the radio and Steve’s noises, neither of them heard the front door open.

“Steve, honey, are you home?”

Both their heads snapped up to look at Sarah Rogers, standing in the entryway with a brown paper bag of groceries and looking like she’d just walked in on a murder scene.

Steve was the first to move, shoving Bucky off him and hurriedly yanking up his pants, blushing hard enough it spread all the way down his chest. He scrambled for his undershirt, but not before Sarah got a glimpse of the teeth indents surrounding his nipples.

“Okay,” Sarah said, her voice wavering just slightly. Bucky had never seen her so pale. “Okay, this is fine. I just- you two- the milk.” She straightened up and moved into the kitchen. “I have to put away the milk.”

They didn’t know if she was talking to them or herself. She clattered around in the kitchen for a few minutes, Bucky and Steve scrambling to put the cushions back, before coming back out into the living room.

“I should go-,” Bucky started, but Sarah shook her head.

“Nope. Sit. Both of you.” She pointed at the couch and both boys looked at in each other with fear. Sarah Rogers was the only person who could put strike fear directly through the both of them.

She sat across from them in the armchair and crossed her legs.

“We’re going to need to set up some rules.”

Oh, God.

“I don’t care if you boys are a couple. And I really don’t care if you two have sex. I kind of assumed it was already happening but didn’t really want to think about walking in on it in my living room.”

They both had the grace to look ashamed.

“Now, there’s a lot of ways men can be intimate with each other and-,”

“Ma,” Steve whined, blushing furiously. She shut him up with a single raised eyebrow.

“I could go into detail,” she threatened, and they both quickly shook their heads. “That’s what I thought. As I was saying, there’s a lot of ways you two can be intimate and I’m assuming you both know about penetrative sex.”

More blushing, more nods.

“I’m not going to tell you that you can’t have sex. You probably won’t listen to me, and I’d rather you two be in a safe environment than trying to go somewhere risky and get yourselves in trouble. All I ask is that you’re safe.” Her eyes softened a little and the strict nurse exterior fell slightly. “I don’t want you two getting sick when it could have been avoided.”

She looked at them sternly and Bucky visibly gulped.

“That means you two use condoms. Always. Whether it’s oral or penetrative sex. You can’t afford condoms, I can bring some from the hospital. If it’s happening under my roof, it happens with protection. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Ma.”

“James?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Now I’m going to go fix mysel a drink and try to forget what I walked in on. You two can… Go to Steve’s room, I guess. Please make sure the door is shut if you’re going to continue.”

“Don’t worry,” Steve said, grabbing Bucky’s clamming hand and leading them back to his room. “The mood kinda died.”

The next morning, the boys stumbled sleepily into the kitchen to find two unopened boxes of rubbers, a tub of Vaseline, and a note in Sarah’s handwriting stating she’d be working the overnight shift at the hospital and wouldn’t be back until the next afternoon.

At the bottom, in her loopy handwriting, she’d drawn a heart and stated she loved them both more than she could ever express, but that she loved them the most when they had safe sex.  

It took Bucky forty five minutes and several punches from his very loving boyfriend to stop laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is "I'll always love you" in Irish. I suck at titles so I thought that was kinda cute and just rolled with it. 
> 
> Let me know what you think!!


End file.
